Hi =]
I get neck and back pain sometimes. It's often due to posture, and inactivity (sounds like you've been slaving away at your books for long hours!)
Personally, I'd go for the natural approach. Here's some suggestions:
- Invest in a heat pack, either gel or rice filling. These can be bought from the chemist, and usually just heat up in the microwave for a couple of minutes. (avoid wheat packs if you can - as they get older, they can germinate in the bag). I use one when I'm studying. It just prevents the muscle from cramping
- Try getting a massage - Remedial or deep tissue is best. Therapeutic is pretty soft, doesn't normally do a lot for the muscle.
- Use a heat cream. I prefer goanna heat cream, but dencorub hot also works well.
- Make sure you have a good pillow, with neck support
- Ensure you've got a good intake of magnesium. This will help not only alleviate any muscle pain, but also ease any pre-exam nerves and give you a good nite sleep.
Talk to a naturopath/holistic physician, or see if you can take a magnesium biocomplex supplement. "Nutrimedicine" makes a good one - practitioner dispensing only though.
- If you're into it, chiropractic is something which I've always gotten a lot out of. It's important you go to someone with a lot of experience, and who people recommend - there are a lot of crap chiro's. But it's a fantastic therapy which I have found to be better than physio, when combined with regular massage. If the vertebrae in your neck are out of place, no amount of pain relief will fix it.
Some people are against it, but as someone who has been seeing a chiropractor since around the age of about 9, i found its helped me.